Citizen Advocacy Groups

Groups of concerned citizens who advocate for quality long-term care, services and supports and quality of life for residents and consumers in their locality, state or region sometimes self-identify as "citizen advocacy groups" (CAGs). These groups can be structured organizations with budgets, staff and offices or can be a small group of individuals who meet around the kitchen table to share information and strategize about how they can work to improve the long-term care, services and supports in their community.

Members of these groups are often people who have or had loved ones in a long-term care setting and are concerned about individuals receiving long-term services and supports. Despite their diversity, CAGs share a commitment to improving the quality of care, services and supports and quality of life for residents and consumers who are in need of long-term assistance. They may be able to inform you about resources in your state, quality in particular facilities or settings and the current status of long-term care, services and support in your state.

Opportunities for Citizen Advocacy Groups

From 2008-2009, Consumer Voice hosted several training and sharing conference calls for CAG members. Call topics are listed below, and call recordings are available to CAG members free of charge. To request a CD recording of a conference call, please contact info@theconsumervoice.org.

Citizen Advocacy Group Toolkit

Organizing to Improve Long-Term Care in Your State & Community: A Consumer Voice Toolkit for Citizen Advocates was designed to support the daily work of long-term care citizen advocacy groups nationwide.The Toolkit aims to provide CAGs with organizational development resources that were chosen for their user friendliness and applicability to advocacy work.The Toolkit is intended to be a web-based, “living” resource subject to modifications and additions as the long-term care climate changes, opportunities arise and funding allows. Viewthe toolkit.

Citizen Advocacy Group Resource Packet

The Citizen Advocacy Group (CAG) Resource Packet is part of the project Citizen Advocacy Groups: Making a Difference in Communities and States, funded by The Retirement Research Foundation (RRF). Clickhere to view the Resource Packet.

Finding Citizen Advocacy Groups

View contact information for the citizen advocacy groups in several states. We hope that the information provided will enable people around the country who are interested in nursing home reform to connect with each other and organize to bring about change for nursing home residents. If you know of other advocacy groups we should add to our list, please let us know!

Fact Sheets

Long-Term Care Omudsman Programs

Find contact information for the long-term care ombudsman program in your state. In addition to acting as an advocate for residents, ombudsmen can educate residents, families and friends about resident rights, state surveys, and federal and state laws that are applicable to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

Consumer Voice's Family Council Center

View information on Consumer Voice Projects related to family councils, family council rights that are protected by federal law, regulations applying to long-term care facilities, effective council advocacy, and tools for forming an effective council. Family members in a facility can join together to form a united consumer voice which can communicate concerns to facility administrators and work for resolutions and improvements by forming a family council. Family councils can play a crucial role in voicing concerns, requesting improvements, supporting new family members and residents, and supporting facility efforts to make care and life in the facility the best it can be.

The Consumer Voice envisions a world in which all consumers of long-term care, services and supports are treated with respect and dignity and have a wide range of affordable, quality options across all settings.